Disturbing footage from Rio de Janeiro has revealed a bizarre occasion where a Brazilian woman was pushing a frail wheelchair-bound man, Roberto Braga, barely a day before she wheeled his corpse into a banking hall.
CCTV footage of the incident which happened on April 15 shows the pair outside the Emergency Care Unit in Bangu, with Erika de Souza pushing the 68-year-old man who was alive then. In the footage, Braga is observed moving his head and waving his arm while Souza, 42, struggles to push him toward the door.
In the video, a man is sighted approaching and interacting with Braga, prompting Souza to intervene and readjust the wheelchair, as reported by Daily Mail. Eventually, she manages to push Braga through the door, where he rests his head on the chair.
Braga reportedly received medical treatment on April 8 and was discharged the same day as the CCTV footage. However, despite being discharged alive, Souza was captured pushing Braga’s corpse into a bank the following day to sign a key document to get her a $3,200 loan.
Bank employees grew suspicious as Souza tried to have Braga sign a document, prompting them to alert the police, who arrested her on the spot.
Rio de Janeiro Civil Police chief Fábio Souza informed Brazilian news outlet G1 that although the exact time of Braga’s death couldn’t be determined, cadaver spots on the back of his head suggest he had been dead for approximately two hours.
Authorities noted that if Braga had died while seated in the wheelchair, the cadaver spots would have been on his legs instead.
“It is not possible to say the exact moment of death,” Fábio said. “It was found by Samu (Mobile Emergency Attendance Service) that there was (livor mortis). This only happens from the moment of death, but is only noticeable around two hours after death.”
Agents have been dispatched to locate the rideshare app driver who dropped off Souza with her deceased uncle at the bank. Souza, facing charges of attempted theft by fraud and desecration of a corpse, was interviewed by authorities Wednesday morning.
She claimed Braga died while at the bank, a statement that the police are challenging.
“In my 22-year career I have never seen a story like this,” Fábio said.
Initially, bank customers and staff believed Braga was unwell, prompting them to call for an ambulance, as indicated by the police chief. A viral video captured by bank employees showed Souza holding up Braga’s head, urging him to sign, saying, “Uncle, are you listening? You have to sign it. I can’t sign for you.”
One of the bank workers then told de Souza: “I don’t think this is legal. He doesn’t look well. He’s very pale.”
“He’s like that,” she replied and told her dead uncle, “If you’re not well, I can take you to hospital. Do you want to go back to the hospital again?”
De Souza then told Braga, “Sign so you don’t give me any more headaches, I can’t take it anymore.”
“She calls herself his niece. In fact, she has a degree of kinship, according to our research,” Fabio said. “And she calls herself his caretaker. We want to identify other family members,” he added.
